RIM: BlackBerry Shipments Slumped Down 21% From Q3

A serious debate sparked out across the world about the RIM’s Q4 earning. In the last quarter, undoubtedly, there was nothing for RIM to do. The company’s helm shifted to “Thorsten Heins” hand, and the company started to focus on the emerging market across the world such as India–where the company took the decision to double its market presence. After a long wait, Research and Motion finally declared its Q4 result report on Yesterday. As expected, Blackberry shipment once again slumped in the Q4 fiscal 2012, drop by 9% from Q3 in the same fiscal.

RIM’s chief executive—Thorsten Heins—said, “I did my own reality check on where the entire company really is. Having had the benefit of going through this process from the vantage point of CEO, it is now very clear to me that substantial change is what RIM needs.”

The company shipped 11.1 million BlackBerry Smartphones in Q4 ended March 3, down by 21% from Q3 fiscal 2012. Likewise, RIM sold more than 500,000 PlayBook in the Q4, however, number rose little bit in the last quarter due to its strategy to reduce the price in order to contend low-price Android Tablets in the market. It’s quite obvious that why RIM’s unit shipments plunged. Indeed, the surging demand of Android and iOS devices across the world had stepped down to the shipments of RIM’s devices.

Yesterday, RIM revealed its quarterly revenues which was $4.2 billion in Q4 fiscal 2012, down 19% from the previous quarter of the same fiscal, and down 25% from the same quarter a year before. The company has also reported a net loss of $125 million or $0.24 per share diluted in Q4, along with the earning per share of $0.80. Previously, I was expected the earning per share of the company in between $0.75 to $0.85, which comes exactly the mean of the estimated value.

As compare to iOS and Android devices, the company’s stagnant strategy of selecting devices line up has become one of the challenges for it. RIM is currently working on its forthcoming BlackBerry 10 OS, and the company is more relying on the its latest OS.